Mobile Internet in China's Second- and Third-Tier Cities Now Growing Faster than in the Country's First-Tier Cities

Dianping Publishes 2013 Mobile Life Report

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Sep 17, 2013, 10:00 ET

SHANGHAI, Sept. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Dianping, a leading local life and business platform in China, recently published a report entitled 2013 Mobile Life. The report highlighted the comprehensive growth of mobile internet across the country, spurred by the widespread use of mobile smart devices. Noticeably, the second- and third-tier cities across China experienced explosive growth in the use of mobile internet and the pace of growth in these cities exceeded that of first-tier cities including Beijing and Shanghai for the first time. The report revealed that service-oriented needs such as e-membership cards and online restaurant reservations are emerging and online restaurant reservations via mobile apps are gradually influencing traditional habits. Users need only 20 seconds on average to submit a request for a reservation at a restaurant. The report also showed that users of mobile devices are personalizing the experience to a much higher degree than before and that men are starting to play an increasingly important role in the consumption of information provided over mobile. Android-based apps are expanding their presence.

Dianping's 2013 Mobile Life report is based on the results of analyzing the behavior data of mobile users in *22 developed cities across China (data collected between August 2012 and August 2013). According to the report, the mobile internet has been on a fast growth track since 2010, while page views via Dianping mobile apps have jumped by more than 300-fold and unique users of Dianping mobile apps have grown by more than 200-fold. As of the second quarter of 2013, Dianping had more than 2 billion monthly page views, with views via mobile apps accounting for more than 70 percent of the total. Dianping mobile apps had more than 75 million unique users and the user base continues to grow.

Mobile internet saw explosive growth in second and third-tier cities, surpassing that in first-tier cities for the first time

In 2013, the mobile internet experienced explosive growth in second- and third-tier cities, for the first time exceeding that in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, where it nevertheless continued rapid expansion. Data shows that views on Dianping mobile apps in Changsha surged more than 350 percent year on year during the past year, more than double that in Shanghai. Among the 22 cities surveyed, Changsha ranked first in terms of mobile internet growth during the past year, followed by Ningbo and Tianjin.

Fuzhou, Shenyang, Chongqing, Xi'an, Suzhou, Harbin and Zhengzhou rounded up the top ten cities that witnessed the fastest mobile internet growth during the past year. These cities all saw their views on Dianping mobile apps grow more than 2.5 times between August 2012 and August 2013.

In addition to core necessities such as information search and having access to discounts, service-oriented needs such as online restaurant reservations are emerging

In 2013, information search and having access to discounts remain the two core necessities of the mobile lifestyle. The 2013 Mobile Life report revealed that more than 70 percent of Dianping mobile app users showed a preference for three functions: keyword search, nearby merchant search and group buying. Meanwhile, service-oriented necessities such as e-membership cards and online restaurant reservations are emerging.

The 2013 Mobile Life report demonstrated that the issuance of Dianping e-membership cards, which were developed based on the mobile platform, broke the 15 million mark in August 2013.

Besides e-membership cards, having the convenience of booking a table at a restaurant online in near real time via their mobile app is increasingly favored by users and gradually changing consumer habits in this domain. The 2013 Mobile Life report revealed that as of August 2013, the number of users that made a reservation at a restaurant via Dianping mobile apps was already more than double that of the conventional way of booking the table via a phone call since the launch of the online service at the beginning of 2013.

At present, restaurant reservation services via Dianping mobile apps are available in nine cities including Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Suzhou and Tianjin. The report showed that users need on average only 20 seconds to request a table and on average within five minutes of the request would receive the confirmation. The convenience of the service is enabling its wider adoption.

(*Note: The 22 cities refered to above are Beijing, Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Dalian, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Harbin, Jinan, Nanjing, Ningbo, Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan, Xi'an, Xiamen and Zhengzhou.)

About Dianping

Dianping, the leading local platform in China, provides local business search, user generated reviews, detailed business information, featured discounts, group buying and other merchant services through Dianping.com and through its mobile apps. Founded in April 2003, Dianping.com was one of the first websites to provide business reviews written by independent consumers in China. Powered by a large and growing user community, Dianping.com covers the full spectrum of local business content and reviews of restaurants and boutiques, as well as a whole array of entertainment, leisure and lifestyle services. In addition, Dianping.com provides a one-stop targeted marketing solution for small and medium-size businesses who use electronic coupons, online advertising and group buying to attract customers. To meet the growing demands of mobile users, Dianping has also expanded into the mobile app space and seen exponential growth in adoption and usage.

Dianping.com was founded by Tao Zhang in 2003 and its founding team includes Jason Li, Bo Zhang, Shuhong Ye and Edward Long.

Key Statistics

As of Q2 of 2013, Dianping had more than 70 million monthly active users, over 26 million reviews, and more than 4 million local businesses covering approximately 2,300 cities across China.

As of Q2 of 2013, Dianping (including Dianping.com and Dianping mobile apps) had more than 2 billion page views monthly, out of which, over 70% comes from mobile users. Dianping's mobile apps have more than 75 million accumulated unique users.

Dianping is headquartered in Shanghai, China, with established branch operations in 30 cities across the country including Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Wuxi, Ningbo, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Jinan, Qingdao, Shenyang, Dalian, Changsha, Harbin, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Hefei, Changzhou, Foshan and Taiyuan.